The present invention relates generally to broadband antennas, and more specifically to a multi-octave bandwidth antenna which will radiate and receive electromagnetic energy at UHF-Band, L-Band, C-Band, S-Band, X-Band, K-Band and beyond with variable radiated polarization.
The task of providing an antenna element which will radiate and receive over multi-octave bandwidths is alleviated, to some extent, by the following U.S. Patents, which are incorporated herein by reference:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,127 issued to D. J. Richard on Jul. 25, 1972;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,101 issued to E. Turner et al on Dec. 26, 1961;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,465 issued to Andre et al on Apr. 28, 1970; and
U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,104 issued to L. Behr on Nov. 2, 1971.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,104 discloses a broadband low-profile circularly polarized antenna having a form factor comprising a cornucopia-shaped element. U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,465 discloses a tunnel diode amplifier integrated into a printed circuit equiangular spiral antenna in which the antenna elements are used as a portion of the amplifier transmission line.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,127 discloses a tunable omni-directional antenna having two loaded, concentric, semicircular radiating members. U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,101 discloses an antenna consisting of one or more elements each essentially a coplanar equiangular stub antenna with a folded over shorted base, the general configuration being that of a scimitar blade.
While the systems described above are exemplary in the art, the need remains to provide a multi-octave antenna element which has excellent time dispersion properties; and will radiate and receive at UHF-Band, L-Band, C-Band, S-Band, X-Band, K-Band and beyond, and radiates with variable polarization by shifting the phase of the input radio frequency (RF) signal. The present invention is intended to satisfy that need.